They're Just Trying to Shorten Manafort's Trial

As Griffin Connolly helpfully tells us in his article in Roll Call when doing a 5-things-you-should-watch on the Manafort Trial:

Saying it loud for the people in the back: THIS IS A TAX EVASION AND BANK FRAUD TRIAL.

None of the 18 counts against Manafort deal with collusion or conspiracy with a foreign nation, and the word Russia has not been mentioned through the trial’s first two days.

“Very few tax cases really do get a lot of attention,” said Robert Barnes, a tax attorney who represented actor Wesley Snipes in a high-profile tax evasion case in 2008.

But Manafort’s connection to the Trump campaign, which he managed for five months in 2016, has filled the courtroom with reporters and the internet with readers.

One of those onlookers keeping a close eye on the Manafort trial: the president. The way Trump sees it, Manafort’s prosecution is the product of a “rigged witch hunt” by Mueller’s team to discredit his 2016 victory over Hillary Clinton.

Oh, ok. So, this has nothing to do with collusion. It's all about apparently unpaid taxes and possible other financial fraud (which seems to have to do with not declaring all your millions). Nothing to do with Russia. And Trump is a fool for Tweeting angrily about Mueller's mid-stream switch and bait?

No, no no. You don't understand. Again, Griffin helps explain it all for us:

Manafort is a "political operative & Reagan/Dole darling, now serving solitary confinement -- although convicted of nothing?" the president tweeted Wednesday, referencing two previous GOP presidential campaigns that Manafort led. "Where is the Russian Collusion?"

The president likely won't get an answer to that last question anytime soon since prosecutors have agreed not to discuss Russia and its possible ties to the Trump campaign during the Manafort trial.

Of course not. That would be absolutely out of place. Discussing possible ties between Russia and Trump's 2016 campaign team. This is a probe about whether you think Manafort is an evasive sleaze - in both the tax and moral sense. Not about Russia. That'll come later please!

When they get Manafort's Cohen - Rick Gates - on the witness stand. That will be absolute fireworks! Maybe ... if they actually decide to put him up on the stand, as Mueller's team now states in the words of US Attorney Uzo Asonye:

He may testify. He may not. We're trying to shorten the trial.

It's cold and dark outside. (It's winter here where I live). I'm tired and have another long day tomorrow. Thank you Uzo for making me laugh out loud! You brighten my evenings. You really do. We're trying to shorten the trial. Look, Asonye and the rest of Mueller's team are a scary, very smart, bloodthirsty bunch of prosecutors. No doubt about it. They know exactly how it sounds when they say: We're trying to shorten the trial.

So, what are they saying? What was Asonye signaling with that phrase?

· We've got nothing, so we've decided to wrap things up?

· We've got so much on Trump that we're going to rush a report before Labor Day and then let Congress decide if they want to impeach? Hopefully after the midterms give the House back to the Democrats?

· Rick Gates has been turned by Trump's Defense team and has decided he's not cooperating and that we can go stuff ourselves, including the FBI?

· There's no connection between Manafort's tax evasion and the Trump campaign's possible collusion with Russia?

· We don't even really have evidence that Manafort actually broke the law? The Roll Call piece actually admits this:

Prosecutors so far have not shown jurors anything that indicates Manafort broke the law.

Instead, they've spent most of the first two days of witness testimony buttering up the jury by explaining: 1) how Manafort made his fortune (political consulting for Eastern European politicians), and 2) how he spent that fortune (on seven homes, including a $200 million estate just miles from the courthouse where Manafort stands trial, hundreds of thousands of dollars in antique rugs, and the now-infamous $15,000 jacket made from an ostrich).

And then apparently, comes the documents, or at least the emails of which the prosecutors reportedly have quite a few. As Judge Ellis has indicated he doesn't want a data dump, they're going to have to show some pretty compelling evidence that Manafort broke the law. They may well be able to, but what if even this case comes unglued? What will that say about the Mueller probe and its fairly hefty cost to taxpayers?

It's early days, but this is the Rocket Docket, so maybe it will indeed be a short trial. Let's get to it guys. Show us the evidence, even if this is about tax evasion and has nothing to do with collusion.

Another half-baked article about nothing with no opinion, just copying and pasting something from somewhere else. Nice non-effort there!

Nothing about:
What bank did Manafort use to launder the money?
Who has run that bank?
Where are those people now?
What other banks are in that same network?
Who “lent” money from those banks?
Who did they lend it to?
Who else is a money launderer?
Who else is in on this [b]CONSPIRACY[/b]?
Who else’s tax returns does the Mueller investigation have?
Why is the right wing/fascist party okay with any of this criminal activity?

If you can’t even ask those questions, why bother copying this article here?

The Bank of Cyprus. It was a preferred vendor for Russian money laundering. Manafort kept 10 secret accounts there which he hid from his bookkeeper & accountant.

“Who has run that bank?”

Wilbur Ross, the Commerce Secretary, along with a Russian oligarch and a former head of Deutsche bank, who resigned in disgrace over Deutsche Bank’s massive money laundering scheme with the Russians resulted in enormous fines.

“Why is the right wing/fascist party okay with any of this criminal activity?”

Good question. Conservatives just can’t bring themselves to condemn criminal activity by the 2016 Trump Campaign Chairman. The Trump Campaign Deputy Chairman, Gates, will nail a few additional nails in Manafort’s coffin. It is a shame Gates will not go to jail for the rest of his life, but he could easily do 4 to 8 years as part of his plea bargain. Will Manafort do his sentence in solitary confinement 23 hours a day? That has been the case so far. Apparently the other prisoners hate him. Funny thing about imprisoned criminals, there is a weird kind of code of honor. They are ok with crooks, but they really hate child molesters and traitors.

Couldn’t happen to a nicer guy.

The Manafort trial is being conducted as a purely criminal trial, with no political overtones. That’s fine. The important thing is that the Trump campaign crooks and traitors spend the rest of their life in jail. Some, like Flynn and Gates, will not do life sentences, but they might do some time as the result of their guilty pleas. They deserve much worse.

It is a shame Gates will not go to jail for the rest of his life, but he could easily do 4 to 8 years as part of his plea bargain. Posted by: phx8 at August 2, 2018 5:04 PM

Gates is a valuable witness, since he continued to work for these criminals after Manafort was long gone. You could argue that hiring Manafort was the beginning of the investigation into the traitor in chief, since Ukrainians and Ukrainian-Americans couldn’t believe it when he was named, and started trying to figure out the reason for it. We know he was willing to work for free, and expected to monetize his influence by reporting to Deripaska, his debtor in another crooked scheme. Mueller was pretty busy after 9/11, and these financial criminals got away from him, but the traitor in chief has served them all up on a platter for him, wrapped up in a bow with the russian CONSPIRACY.

Lie. You guys have been told over and over that Manafort should be held accountable if he is found guilty.
But because sane people aren’t willing to blindly take your MSNBC, Vox, kos or TP talking-points and string boards as truth, you ignore them.

Fact is, people aren’t paying any attention to the Manafort trial simply because it has nothing to do with your claims of collusion, which makes it nothing more than another rich guy getting in trouble over money.

Apparently the NYT hired a left wing pundit for their op-ed page. Note: a writer of editorials is not the same as a journalist or reporter. The NYT also hired a right wing pundit away from the WSJ, Bret Stephens. Like other pundits and journalists, he has been receiving death threats using phrases like “enemy of the people.” He just wrote:

“We are approaching a day when blood on the newsroom floor will be blood on the president’s hands.”

Personally, I am not willing to deprive the free press of its freedom, never mind committing violence against journalists. Trump has consistently attacked the free press as “the enemy of the people.” Trump has consistently attacked the Mueller investigation. Trump has consistently attacked the DOJ and the FBI. The attacks have one thing in common: they target those who would hold the president accountable.

Every time- EVERY TIME- the president declares the Russia probe a witch hunt, and every time he asserts Russian interference with the 2016 election is a hoax, he is committing obstruction of justice. No other president ever so openly interfered with an investigation.

Trump’s national security team all declared the Russians interfered with that election, and continue interfering.

To this day, no one knows what Trump and Putin talked about in the Surrender Summit. Trump has openly lied about it. Transcripts and video show he has been lying.

Trump is treason.

Sam Nunberg, right hand man for Roger Stone, just said:

“I peddled birtherism. I knew Barack Obama was born in the United States.”

Never forget. Trump started his political career promoting the fundamentally racist conspiracy theory of Birtherism.

Roger Stone worked as a close advisor to Donald Trump for 40 years. Nunberg expects Stone will be indicted for conspiracy against the United States and financial crimes. Stone has already said he expects to be indicted.

“Note: a writer of editorials is not the same as a journalist or reporter.”

Sadly, that is no longer true phx8. We read editorial content nearly every day that portrays itself as news. Frequently, an editorial writer will be quoted by a journalist and the comment then becomes “hard news”.

Is phx8 still unaware of the genesis of the “Steele Dossier”? Is he still blind as to how “fake news” was used to justify the Dossier in obtaining FISA warrants?

RF,
I am positive I am well informed about the Steele Dossier. I have read it and I have heard a great deal of commentary about it. I am equally positive you do not know anything about it. The free press had nothing to do with the role of the Dossier in obtaining the FISA warrants on Carter Page.

The FBI had investigated Carter Page in the past, and even met with him to warn Page he was being recruited by the Russians. In addition, Page made anti-American speeches in Moscow after the Obama sanctions. Page lost money on those sanctions; the sanctions hit the Russians hard; and Page was very upset. Page had every right to make anti-American speeches in Moscow. He had every right to list himself as an “informal advisor to the Kremlin” on his resume. But you better believe that caught the attention of American counter-intelligence.

The application for the FISA warrant was based, in part, on information pre-dating the Steele Dossier. It also cited the Dossier, and in a full page footnote (redacted), went into considerable detail. The FISA judge was informed the Dossier came from a political campaign. The FISA judge was informed it was opposition research. That judge- appointed by a Republican president- went ahead and issued the warrant. The FISA warrant was extended three times by three different judges- all appointed by Republicans- because there were CONTINUING and ADDITIONAL reasons, in each separate ninety day period, to believe surveillance was warranted.

We may never know all the details, but gong story short- Carter Page was a Russian spy. He was inserted into the Trump campaign by Trump himself. When Trump was asked about his foreign policy team, Carter Page was one of the first people he announced.

The FISA warrants were issued AFTER Page officially left the Trump campaign. Page had to leave. There was no choice. His cover was blown.

“Trump announced Page as a foreign policy adviser in his campaign on March 21, 2016. In September 2016, U.S. intelligence officials investigated alleged contacts between Page and Russian officials subject to U.S. sanctions… After news reports began to appear describing Page’s links to Russia and Putin’s government, Page stepped down from his role in the Trump campaign.

Shortly after Page resigned from the Trump campaign, the Federal Bureau of Investigation obtained another warrant (he was subject to one beginning in 2014) from the United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) in October 2016 to surveil Page’s communications. To issue the warrant, a federal judge concluded there was probable cause to believe that Page was a foreign agent knowingly engaging in clandestine intelligence for the Russian government. The initial 90-day warrant was subsequently renewed more than once.”
Wikipedia, “Carter Page”

Hey phx8, can you direct us to a copy of the indictment of Carter Page?

The FBI and DOJ used media reporting to lend credibility to the dossier. Fusion GPS briefed major American news outlets to include New York Times, Washington Post, CNN, New Yorker, Yahoo and Mother Jones on its contents.

Based upon a fake dossier, and fake reports given to major news outlets, FISA warrants were obtained.

We know phx8 will not admit the “circular firing squad” method used here. That’s OK. A majority of American voters could care less about fake reports of Trump campaign connections to Russians.

No. In this case, I’m running rings around you because either you don’t remember, or you rely on bad sources of information, or you want to believe things that simply are not true.

“What about the indictment of Carter Page?”

Interesting question. He has been interviewed by the FBI about his interactions with the Russian ambassador at the GOP convention in Cleveland. He features prominently in the Steele Dossier, along with Paul Manafort and Michael Cohen.

As for details on indictments and the Trump campaign, there have been numerous indictments and guilty pleas of individuals, including the Trump Campaign Chair, the Deputy Chair, a foreign policy advisor, and the National Security Advisor.

Several of the major figures have not been interviewed by the Mueller team, including Donald Trump Jr. and Roger Stone. Most likely they are targets and will not be interviewed. Kushner was interviewed about financial dealings, but not conspiracy. Most likely indictments of Americans will wait until Trump does an interview with Mueller.

We also know an unnamed Congressman sought out information from the Russians for his or her campaign.

We know very little about the Cambridge Analytica role, other than the Trump campaign obtained the data analytics- essentially, the Democratic game plan in detail- from a blogger and/or Stone.

We already know Donald Trump Jr., Roger Stone, and Michael Caputo lied to Congress in their testimony. I believe that also holds true for Erik Prince. Whether Mueller does anything about that, well, we will see.

I’m running rings around you because either you don’t remember, or you rely on bad sources of information, or you want to believe things that simply are not true. Posted by: phx8 at August 4, 2018 6:36 PM

Asymmetric intelligibility refers to two languages that are considered partially mutually intelligible, but where one group of speakers has more difficulty understanding the other language than the other way around. There can be various reasons for this. If, for example, one language is related to another but has simplified its grammar, the speakers of the original language may understand the simplified language, but not vice versa. However, perhaps the most common reason for apparent asymmetric intelligibility is that speakers of one variety have more exposure to the other than vice versa.

And so quick to admit “A majority of American voters could care less about fake reports of Trump campaign connections to Russians.” even when shown factual information, I mean a timeline that is easily checked has become fake news because it goes against what they want to believe.

I guess that is what 30 years of Rush Limbaugh does to a country. As we descend into third world banana republic status ruled by dictators and oligarchs it is easy to see how propaganda and attacking the education system of a country can bring it to it’s knees. It seems the Reagan revolution has come to fruition

We read editorial content nearly every day that portrays itself as news. Frequently, an editorial writer will be quoted by a journalist and the comment then becomes “hard news”.

Hats off to Royal for his truthful view of conservatives in America today. Usually the right wing will not admit they depend upon the opinions of the Hannity’s and Limbaugh’s of the world, not to mention all the conservative internet sites that pass along propaganda between themselves and call it news. Between this and the attack by conservatives on the free press, all this fake news crap they have used to defend their leaders with it is easy to see why we, the American people, have fallen to such lows.

This goes a long ways in explaining why conservatives believe so many myths, so much misinformation, and fall for half truths and outright lies. Once again Royal thanks for your moment of honesty. Now is the time to wean yourself from these false narratives you guys hold so dear and to teach fellow conservatives the error of their ways.

It’s funny how j2t2 can discount a talk radio show that has been around for 30 years, yet fails to mention the hundreds of left leaning talk radio shows that have come and gone throughout those same 30 years.

I suppose up is down, left is right, wet is dry, and spicy is plain, in j2t2’s world view.

Since j2t2 doesn’t answer questions posed to him I will make a simple comment.

Rush Limbaugh has been a successful and thriving radio personallity for “30 years”! No rebranding, no “New Rush”, just Rush Limbaugh and his opinion, consistent throughout those 30 years while liberal talk shows have come and gone, too numerous to count.

j2t2’s blinders allow him to think conservatives are so dumb we will listen to the same person lie to us for 30 years.

I say the exact opposite. Liberals have been listening and believing Nancy Pelosi lies for 30 years. They have been listening to Chump Schumer lie to them for 30 years. The likes of Hillbilly and Algore have been lying to them for 30 years. They are in the tank for all of them. I can see how they can project that unquestionable servitude they are subjected to onto the right. For them it’s normal, but only the right can be guilty of doing it.

Weary successful and thriving doesn’t mean truthful and honest nor does it mean factual. That is where you are confused, Limbaugh is entertainment not news although many do not realize that. That is what Royal was saying about conservatives, they read editorial content and assume it is news.

Funny you mention Al Gore lying since new information has become available that tells us it is conservatives that have been misled for so long.

BTW I don’t consider conservatives dumb as you seem to think. I consider the conservative to be misled. They have, like the good people in Germany in the 1920’s and ‘30’s have been subjected to a barrage of propaganda the likes we haven’t seen before. The ongoing propaganda campaign has caused you guys to believe many myths, to be misinformed, victims of half truths and outright lies. The API misinformation campaign is but one example.

You are correct to say, j2t2, that Limbaugh is an entertainer. However, he is a successful entertainer with a format based in politics. The left cannot mount such a success in the same format. They haven’t got the interest, or they cannot be believed by enough people to support their show. This says something you refuse to acknowledge.

It is you who are being misled. I don’t expect you to give credence to that, as I haven’t your comments concerning my beliefs. We will both say each other are wrong. Nice try, to change the subject.

Donald Trump has been president for less than 2 years. The people who oppose him have been politicians for 30 years or more. Politicians have been lying to us and we have acknowledged they lie to us as a norm. They lie, yet you support them.

They have to make Trump a liar so they can make him a politician. They have to make him a politician, because they know how to destroy a politician.

It’s funny how the left only called Trump is a liar after he gets elected. They call him a sexist only after he runs for office. They call him a traitor only when he becomes president. You do think we’re stupid if you expect us to believe a traitor/sexist/liar was born the day Donald Trump announced his candidacy.

“Fake News reporting, a complete fabrication, that I am concerned about the meeting my wonderful son, Donald, had in Trump Tower. This was a meeting to get information on an opponent, totally legal and done all the time in politics - and it went nowhere. I did not know about it!”
Donald Trump, 8/5/18

First there were NO contacts with the Russians.
But there were dozens. Calls, e-mails. Lots.
Then there were no meetings.
But there were lots of meetings.
Then there was no collusions.
But there was collusion.
Now collusion is not a crime.
But it most definitely is a crime.

As for conservatism and the GOP, both have changed a great deal. A lot of what we used to think of as establishment conservatives left the party, especially the intellectuals. They have become never-Trumpers, independents, and Democrats. However, Republicans today support Trump in such great numbers. Why? Because a lot of people who used to be independents have now become Republicans. These are primarily rural, less educated supporters. You see the all-white crowds at Trump rallies. These are the openly racist, bigoted people who hate blacks, the brown invasion, and rainbow flags. These are the Neo-Nazis, Christian Evangelicals, fascists, and Qanon followers.

It is a party rife with conspiracy theories, fueled by hatred and grievance, and personified by Trump.

WW,
“It’s funny how the left only called Trump is a liar after he gets elected.”

Just because you are ignorant about Trump’s past does not mean everyone else is. What is wrong with you?

I’ve known about Trump’s reputation since the 80’s. I belonged to an organization that was trying to push limited partnerships for Trump in the 80’s. No one would touch them because, even then, Trump had a reputation for being a colossal liar and an unreliable business partner.

Sexist only since he ran for office? Are you freakin’ kidding? His previous two divorces were all over the news. He WANTED to publicize his playboy lifestyle. He called the media pretending to be someone else, and fed them stories publicizing himself. He regularly appeared on Howard Stern. He has a long history of saying appalling things about women, on the record.

His bankruptcies in 2008 were big news. Just because you are too ignorant to know anything about them doesn’t mean other people do not, especially anyone from the East Coast. At that time, No American banks would loan money to him. The Russians needed a money launderer, and Trump needed money. It’s pretty straightforward.

Where do you get such garbage? Did you pick this up from someone else? Who? Tell us your sources. Or did you just make up that crap out of thin air because you didn’t know any better, so you assumed no one else did either?

The thing about Limbaugh that seems to escape you Weary is his misinformation. He is popular because he targets the conservative audience. So either conservatives thrive on being misinformed or they are to naive to realize they are misinformed. The lack of integrity inherent in Limbaugh, the most listened to talk radio in America,when combined with so many other conservative propagandist makes conservatives much more susceptible to myths and misinformation. They believe the half truths and outright lies of Limbaugh and his ilk. Which has been my pointy in addressing Royal’s admitting this about conservatives.

Jeez Weary when the API tells you they knew about it for decades and have fought to convince you otherwise your comment sound …well…. stupid. BTW does saying Al Gore is a charlatan make him one if he was right way back then?

It is you who are being misled.

Saying it doesn’t make it so…. remember….Weary? The fact is you and other climate change deniers have been intentionally misled. This link tells you why, when, who and how. I guess your cognitive dissonance is such you may not be able to accept this truth but at the least you should have the decency to not try to sell me on the deception.

Weary you seem so defensive of Trump you must have shut down your ability to recall anything before Trump was elected to office. How can you actually say such nonsense when the left for starters denounced the Trump birtherism lies? The scrutiny he has brought upon himself comes with the job he was elected to. We hold politicians to a higher standard that we do CEO’s. Remember when conservatives used to do that? Think back to Bill Clinton. Remember when you and other conservatives told us Obama was a Muslim, Radical Christian, Terrorist? Yeah you gave up the moral highground a while ago but to sink so low so quick is sad.

Now you may think because you helped elect a novice to the job of president he should get a free ride, why I don’t know, but that is just silly on your part. Of course I don’t expect you guys to admit you screwed the pooch on this choice, after all it took 7 years for you guys to admit GWB wasn’t a bad choice. But why on earth would you think the rest of us would not call Trump on his long list of lies? On hos corrupt cabinet choices? On his bad decisions? It comes with the job yet you guys whine like babies about the guy who thought it wise to insult and degrade so many others.

..and yet he still gets elected, phx8. He still got elected. Do you know why? Because we had nothing better to choose from.

Do you know what else? People voted FOR Trump. They didn’t vote against the his opponent, they voted FOR Trump.

j2t2, more and more people are believing climate change is a fallacy. You’re not going to get me to believe it by ridiculing people.

Also, lying about Trump getting Obama to dispel the rumor about his birth certificate isn’t promoting a “birther” conspiracy. Trump asked him to show his birth certificate to end the discussion, not promote it. Quit lying.

The fact is you and other climate change deniers have been intentionally misled. Posted by: j2t2 at August 6, 2018 12:10 AM

I don’t think some people are willing or capable of learning. Arctic ice is at its thinnest in human history. Weather patterns in the northern hemisphere are already changing, and will have two more big changes coming up. First, weather patterns are beginning to circulate around Greenland, but, since that icecap is also melting, it will change again when there is no more Greenland ice. (see Al Gore in his Oscar winning documentary, An Inconvenient Truth) Because increased temperatures cause increased evaporation, high humidity is going to make “wet-bulb” temperatures unbearable in many major agricultural production regions around the world, both for humans and animals.

j2t2, more and more people are believing climate change is a fallacy. You’re not going to get me to believe it by ridiculing people.

So you agree the methods employed by API has worked and continues to work. Yet they admit they deceived people. But this is exactly the type of thing conservatives are famous for, cognitive dissonance. But it goes deeper than that Weary, climate change shows a flaw in nationalism and we know how you guys are when challenged with facts, denial and a doubling down on the myths that support what you “believe”.

Unfortunately it is the deniers that are caught in a quandary because they are putting the security of the country they have such patriotic feelings for at risk. Perhaps they don’t realize it or perhaps they think if they “believe” hard enough it will solve itself. Either way the inability of deniers to face up to the fact they have allowed themselves to be deceived is a hurdle they may not be able to deal with.

Trump asked him to show his birth certificate to end the discussion, not promote it. Quit lying.

“As for details on indictments and the Trump campaign, there have been numerous indictments and guilty pleas of individuals, including the Trump Campaign Chair, the Deputy Chair, a foreign policy advisor, and the National Security Advisor.”

Really pathetic attempt by phx8 to link the Trump campaign to the reason the people he mentions were indicted or plead guilty.

Could we possibly find anyone…anyone at all, who worked on the Obama or Clinton campaign that was charged with unrelated crimes?

“Republicans today support Trump in such great numbers. Why? Because a lot of people who used to be independents have now become Republicans. These are primarily rural, less educated supporters. You see the all-white crowds at Trump rallies. These are the openly racist, bigoted people who hate blacks, the brown invasion, and rainbow flags. These are the Neo-Nazis, Christian Evangelicals, fascists, and Qanon followers.”

Wow…phx8 has really come out of the closet and reveals his venomous hatred of anyone not declaring themselves a rabid Left-winger, Socialist or Marxist.

Shhh…don’t tell him that recent polling has revealed a near doubling of support for Republicans by both Hispanic and Black American voters. In both groups, it is jobs and income improvement; something Obama couldn’t achieve in eight years. Why; because helping minorities was not part of his plan. He needed minorities disgruntled and angry. How else could this president achieve his globalist plan to “fundamentally change America?”

Before long, phx8 and his nasty ilk will be calling these minority groups racist, ignorant deplorables.

Meanwhile, our WB Liberal Pals ignore Obama in South Africa praising their leadership for their plans to confiscate white owned land without compensation. Use of force has been authorized.

We Conservatives recognize tyranny when it rears its ugly head. Those who support tyranny are guilty of aid and comfort to these enemies of freedom and liberty everywhere.

Sometime ago Jack wrote an article here, proclaiming that Tea Partiers were as intelligent as liberals. His evidence was a report that an Ivy League professor discovered this during his research. Many right wing outlets such as Fox gleefully reported what the professor had written.

I found this story a little interesting so I did some research. The professor in question did write what was reported, but in his blog. It turns out his research was on determining how one’s political leanings affected one’s ability to accept and understand scientific research.

Prior to testing the participants, he would test their general intelligence, in order to determine their ability to understand the research he was testing with.

His research showed that one’s political leanings determined one’s understanding and acceptance of scientific research. For example, the right’s inability to accept the preponderance of scientific research that shows humans are responsible for what we call global warming. To be fair, this same phenomena affect those on the left too.

I submit, this same phenomena is not limited to science. Evidently the right are incapable of recognizing Trump for what he is, or what he says. This is similar to President George W. Bush, who was supported by the right to almost the bitter end.

An interesting side note in all this is: when the professor blogged that Tea Partiers were more intelligent than he thought, he was comparing their scores to the religious right. Who on average scored the lowest IQ scores.

I would remind our Pal Cube, that is is Republicans and Conservatives who defend our Bill of Rights and the Constitution. It is the “Right” that defend religious practice and views. It is the “Right” that ended slavery and segregation in the South. It is the “Right” that promotes Capitalism over Socialism. It is the “Right” that defends freedom and liberty all over our land against Tyranny masquerading as the “New Democrat Party”.

Defends freedom and liberty! Royal, where you been hiding? The right supports the rights of corporations not individuals unless it is the 2nd amendment. The attack on voters and the free press are 2 examples of the right restricting the rights of others.

The right tells us the Constitution is limited to only the bill of rights when they use the “no time frame” argument to deny a president the constitutional right to pick the SCOTUS justice.

The right wing and Trump are in love with Putin, an oligarch, because he supports a white nationalist agenda not freedom and liberty.

The right wing has been passing legislation at the state level to have a constitutional convention to limit the rights of people not to secure more rights.

We Conservatives recognize tyranny when it rears its ugly head.

You also vote those tyrants into office. Not to mention kissing their a** in Helsinki.

Those who support tyranny are guilty of aid and comfort to these enemies of freedom and liberty everywhere.

Unless of course it is Trump then he gets an attaboy from the right. Putin thanks the right wing in this country for furthering his agenda here. He kills journalist in Russia and you guys threaten and attack journalist here. Is that what you call freedom and liberty?

Appreciate the link regarding Obama and the South African president j2t2.

You will recall that I never wrote Obama supported the plan to seize the land of white farmers. I wrote he supports and cheers the government that will seize the land. I am certain that j2t2 can tell us the difference.

The remainder of j2t2’s litany of Conservative sins is not worthy of comment.

I quote a few more interesting facts for j2t2 regarding climate, population and resource nonsense being promoted by the Left not long ago.

“The predictions made by climate scientist James Hansen and Michael Oppenheimer back in 1988—and reported as model projected by journalist Philip Shabecoff—constitute yet another exaggerated Malthusian scare, joining those of the population bomb (Paul Ehrlich), resource exhaustion (Club of Rome), Peak Oil (M. King Hubbert), and global cooling (John Holdren).”

First I did not refer to the right as “dummies”, I only stated what the professor said he had meant, and corrected what was misconstrued. I noticed the Fox channel never did.

The Republican Party ended slavery and help end segregation in the south. But don’t conflate the Republican Party of the past and todays “Right”. It was you that said in a previous blog, that perhaps we should return to the days of “separate but equal”.

Defending the Constitution is not just under the purview of the right, nor is our republic weakened by social programs such as Social Security and Medicare. At some point, Universal Healthcare will be included in that list, despite the convulsions of the right.

Quoting a non-scientist and referencing his article, only reinforces my first statement. But convincing you is pointless and useless, the majority of Americans recognize Global warming and its cause. It will be up to the adults to address it.